Where Myth and History Meet - The King Must Die

Being a big fan of mythology and the ancient world in general it was only a matter of time before I ran into the name Mary Renault. She is famous for her historical fiction based around the life and times of Alexander the Great. I was at the library looking for some ancient Greek flavored stories and ran into her work. I ended up choosing "The King Must Die" which promised an interesting take on the tale of Theseus and the Minotaur.

Now, normally when someone drains the magic from mythology I end up disliking the results. The recent take on "The Illiad" in Wolfgang Peterson's "Troy" annoyed me to no end. But what Renault did in "The King Must Die" was much more interesting and reasoned out. She placed the story far back in the ancient timetable, around 1500 BCE. During this time the Minoan civilization ruled much of Aegean Sea. Renault places the story so that the Minoans demand sacrifice, not for a horrible monster, but for their deadly ceremony of bull leaping. This holy event requires the skills of nimble young women and man to dance around and over a charging bull. Those that are killed are done for the glory of the Earth Mother and Poseidon. This makes a certain amount of sense, and work with the myth of the Minotaur. The king, Minos also appears, but in this case Minos is a title, like Pharaoh. And all the kings of Crete are called Minos. Minotaur, or Minos' Bull is more of a nickname for the crown prince of Crete in this story, but his appearance at the end in the ceremonial bull mask makes him appear like the mythological monster we all know and love.

Aside from those historical elements, Renault works in all kinds of other ideas. Especially important is the power of Goddess worship in the ancient world. The Mother Goddess and her worshipers are in direct conflict with those who worship the Sky God. The melding that we are familiar with in Classical mythology hasn't occurred yet. The main difference between the two religions is the fact that Mother Goddess demands a yearly sacrifice of the King. If the King is not sacrificed than the harvest will fail and all manner of bad luck will occur. Those who worship the Sky God do not sacrifice their kings, but still commit blood offerings (usually animals) to the gods. Kings are held in much higher esteem. This conflict features heavily in the story, driving events in obvious and subtle ways.

The theme of the book is sacrifice. No matter what happens to characters in the story, some sacrifice must be made. If it is not, there are consequences, some of the deadly. Theseus sees his life as a King in terms of both a steward of his people (like Sky God) and a necessary sacrifice if needed (like the Mother Goddess demands). He is a fusion of these beliefs and it serves him well in his journey. However who and what he must sacrifice often dictate his choices.

Renault not only juggles these themes and ideas, but also keeps the story entertaining. As familiar as I was with the myth of Theseus, I was fascinated by the way she fused Minoan and Mycenean culture into the story. She also brings life to the mythological hero, giving him a personality that we can relate to and that works within the story. It's a great read, with plenty of conflict as well as thought provoking themes.

Have you ever read "The King Must Die"? What did you think of it? What do you think of approaching a mythological story but stripping it of the fantastic elements?

Back into Hell – The Descent

You can’t get away from the underworld. No matter how old the story is, or how new fangled the tale proposes to be: there is always a moment where the main character must descend into the dark heart of the world and face the most brutal of fears.

Not too long ago I did a blog about “The Writer’s Journey” a book that explained how to use and understand the mythic hero’s quest style of storytelling. The journey into the underworld is a key moment in that mythic structure, and you see it in many forms in stories.

Sometimes it’s obvious, like in the Greek myth of Orpheus. The famous poet literally go into Hades to find his dead love and bring her back to the world of the living. He faces many trials and tests and completes most of them. But it is the final test, what should be the simplest, that ends up betraying Orpheus and causes him to turn from a hero into a tragic character. Find a good book of Greek myths and give the tale a re-read, it’s actually a great example of Underworld mythology.

Want something a bit more recent and less B.C. How about the most recent Star Trek film? The finale of the film takes place aboard the dark and dangerous Romulan space ship. Kirk and Spock must sneak inside, wander around in the darkness, face the king of the underworld (Nero in this case) and rescue the captured companion (Captain Pike). It’s the last major test for the heroes, one that ends up changing all of them and pushing them to their limits.

Well enough of those examples, let’s take a look at the book I read, Jeff Long’s “The Descent”. The title itself is a bit of a give away, but the bulk of the story is a journey into the underworld. The premise is simple, hell does exist and it is revealed to be a huge network of underground caverns that houses a civilization of beings that aren’t quite human, but seem to be a splinter of homo sapien.

Soon, “hell” is invaded by countries, armies and corporations. They do their best to eradicate the “demons” below but things might not be as easy as that. The main story follows an expedition that is sent into hell. It is comprised of scientists and a mercenary band for protection from the “demons”. At first the journey seems to be simple, straightforward exploration of a new frontier (very “Journey to the Center of the Earth”). But it becomes apparent that there are different loyalties among the group and that an operative among them might have a very different goal. Following along with this main story is a side story about a group of scholars and their search for Satan. They figure that since hell turned out to be a real place, that Satan must be real too, or at least based in historical fact. This search provides some clues that end up affecting the readers perception of what the explorers are experiencing.

So very literally Jeff Long has created an underworld and based his whole novel on the search and exploration of this world. The explorers initial journey into hell is actually one of the best parts of the book. It seems to be a simple matter of taking a colossal elevator/train to the bottom of the sea and then traveling in the underground corridors to the frontier settlements. But Long does a good job of allowing the reader to follow along with Ali, a nun who specializes in languages. Her journey from the upper world, the only one she’s known, down into the darkness of hell is actually the crux of the story. By giving you Ali’s perspective the reader feels the weight of the journey. As she travels deeper into the earth, the more the reader feels her wonder and her horror at the discoveries.

Of course no one can journey into the underworld and not change. Ali is an interesting character because as a nun she has seen horrors. She worked with the poor in Africa, and saw the toll that war and famine could take on humans. What she sees in hell is a new type of basic and elemental drive – something primal and almost bestial. It challenges what she felt she understood. This includes not only her teachings as a nun, but also what she felt was the basics of humanity. At the end of the story Ali is a very different person.

Ali is only one of several characters who makes the descent and each of them is changed in different ways. The book is interesting in its take on the underworld, and is worth reading for these elements (as a whole the book was good, but something was missing to make it a real knock out). It was interesting to see what Long did with his concept of making the underworld a real place.

What are your favorite stories the feature a plunge into “The Underworld”? Have you read “The Descent” or any of its follow up novels? Do you think the use of “the underworld” is a valid storytelling technique or is it too cliché?

Journey to the Navel of the Story – The Writer’s Journey

As I’ve mentioned I’ve been a big fan of mythology since my early years. Maybe “Clash of the Titans” had something to do with it, but I suspect it was because of my love of “Star Wars”, which is more of a fantasy story with mythic elements than a true science fiction story. Either way, at some point in elementary school I became fascinated with mythology.

Of course this eventually lead me to the work of Joseph Campbell and is book, “Hero with a Thousand Faces”. His exploration of myths and storytelling is fascinating. Most of the points in his book are also covered in “The Power of Myth” a conversational examination of how myths and storytelling play a large part in our lives – by uncovering truths and presenting them in ways that resonate with just about anyone who encounters them.

Well this is all well and good, but how does it help a writer? Well obviously Campbell’s study of myth presents a writer with the basic building blocks of creating a story that will resonate with an audience – or at least that is the theory. Christopher Vogler steps up with his book “The Writer’s Journey – Mythic Structure For Writers” and uses Campbells ideas to illustrate how a writer can use mythic elements to create a better story.

Now, I know several writers who dislike Campbell’s work. They feel that stories should not be tied to any set pattern or have elements dissected and examined. A story is a living breathing thing, not a corpse in a morgue. In a way, I understand this. For me writing is a combination of the logical mind and the creative mind. The creative part is the force that flows and runs free. The logical part is the one that examines the story with an arched eyebrow and a red pen. Both need to work together.

You see, you can break the rules of Campbell’s pattern. I’ve seen it done and it can work. However, I’m a firm believer in knowing the rules before you break them, and that is where this book comes in.

Vogler provides the writer with a basic breakdown of the key parts of mythic storytelling. These include covering the archetypes of the story like the hero, the mentor, the ally, the trickster. He then goes into each stage of the hero’s journey from the humble beginnings in the normal world all the way to the hero’s return to his home with the secret of the ages (or magic elixir).

The final sections of the book deal with using fairly popular films and showing how the hero’s journey fits into these. Films range from “Titanic” to “The Lion King” to “Pulp Fiction” and “The Full Monty”. He even delves into all six films of the “Star Wars” saga.

What makes this book valuable is that Vogler is focused on writing and relating Campbell’s ideas to creating stories. Much of this is actually very intuitive, but it’s nice to have it articulated and even presented in a way that makes sense to a writer. And as I said, he offers points on why a story may work better because it follows the pattern or because it breaks it in a creative way. His examination of “Titanic” was actually pretty enlightening. I’m not a huge fan of the film, but Vogler shows how the script structure works exceedingly well to appeal to a large audience and really strike chords.

I definitely recommend the book to anyone who isn’t too familiar with Campbell or The Hero’s Journey. Vogler really presents the ideas in some of the most writer friendly ways I’ve seen. If you are already familiar with Campbell’s idea, you wont’ find too much new here, but there is enough to at least warrant a check out from the Library and see if it works better than some other books out there.

Oh and one minor note, skip the introductions. Unfortunately Vogler comes off a bit conceited in the intro and I was dreading reading any more. Once you get into the book proper, he drops the holier than thou attitude.

Are you familiar with the concept of The Hero’s Journey? Do you think it’s a valid story telling aid, or is it something that causes all stories to become cookie cutter? Have you read Vogler’s book? If so, what did you think of it? What did you think of “Titanic”? Did the storytelling affect how you felt about it, or did you just like watching the boat sink?